A little bit about me

Net Neutrality

2009-05-04T19:56:00.001-07:00

Discussing “Net Neutrality” is like discussing “Gasoline Neutrality for your car. Ford motor company does not have an exclusive deal with British Petroleum so that you have to buy BP gasoline to get optimum fuel efficiency. In much the same way, net neutrality is a given when what you are purchasing is bandwidth, not connection to specific services. The neutrality of the Internet needs to be maintained in the same way that long distance providers are not allowed to be partial to any specific local carrier.

If Comcast or AT&T is allowed to select who you are going to get access to at full speed, what is to stop them from extorting money from Google or any large content provider to allow unfettered access? The Internet is a utility in this modern day and age, and must be treated as such and legislated in the same vein.

what is Net Neutrality anyway?

2009-04-19T09:41:00.001-07:00

Net Neutrality is really a misnomer; it’s not just about neutrality. Calling Common Carrier requirements for Internet providers “Net Neutrality” is like calling your car gasoline neutral. If Ford or General Motors made an exclusive deal with Exxon-Mobile so that their vehicles only got the rated gas mileage using that brand of gasoline, and all others would produce sub-par results, there would be no question about legislating against that.

So why then are the carriers allowed to try to hold content providers hostage over bandwidth and performance?

When I purchase Internet access through my ISP, I am buying bandwidth to the net at large, not to the companies that have cooperative agreements with my provider. I expect that the content provider may throttle requests and responses to mitigate issues such as being slashdoted and having unusually large amounts of traffic at an unpredictable moment, but that is in their business model not in the business of the Internet Provider who has sold me bandwidth.

The Internet has become a utility just like electricity, telephone, cellular phone, cable, water, gas, etc. and must be regulated with the same methods. Common Carrier law for phone companies must extend to the Internet providers both local and backbone. These rules are needed so that companies cannot be forced to pay what amounts to protection money to keep their bandwidth and their customers happy.

Thankful for the Internet

2009-02-01T20:52:00.001-08:00

This time Google found the hint I was looking for.
I use SciTe to edit when I am working on Python projects. But on the brand new machine running Vista it was coughing up the "No module named ..." error.
A couple of Google searches later, I actually found this blog that had the answer to editing the Windows path and XPATH variables to find Python.

One would think that the Windows installer for Python would have done that already, but apparently not.

*sigh*

And now back to my regularly scheduled programming projects.

Strings - a movie review

2009-01-15T22:22:00.000-08:00

Well, first let me say that I just watched a movie whose characters are all marionettes. That should put the rest into a little more perspective.

The theme of Strings is that we are all bound to one another. The metaphor of strings is obvious in the strings that control the actors, but is also carried throughout the story in other more subtle ways. When our hero is exposed to the world outside the city, he sees some of these connections, and has some shown to him.

The story itself is a hero saga, with our hero the young price setting forth to avenge his father that he wrongly believes to have been slain by their historical enemies. Of course there is an evil uncle who is furthering this for his own ends, being control of the kingdom, but that is about as trite as the story gets. Our young prince disguises himself and leaves the city with his general alone to seek the rebels who he believes murdered his father, leaving behind his sister in the clutches of the evil uncle and his henchman.

From here, however, we begin to learn that father was not always a great man, and that these rebels are really the victims of war crimes. Our hero saves the young brother of a member of the tribe of rebels, and ends up meeting them shortly after learning a horrible family secret. His father in his youth had murdered women and children of this tribe at one time.

After much travel and travails, our hero ends up back in the city without the evil uncle knowing. He learns see from his heart (or use his ki, if you think that way) and escapes from the prison just in time to hold his sister while she dies. Deposing the evil uncle our hero rides forth to save the love of his life who happens to also be the leader of the rebels, and brings her home to live in the city his ancestors kicked them out of generations ago.

The story is well told, and well worth the watching if you don't mind the marionettes.

teaching an old dog a new trick

2008-12-24T21:20:00.000-08:00

learning a new trick is always a difficult proposition. The new trick I am attempting to master this time is the use of dictation with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
It actually feels somewhat silly to sit and talk to your computer.
Which is doubly so for me given that I was raised reading science fiction.

Teaching this old dog new trick of using dictation software instead of typing is going to take a bit more practice than I had expected. I hope that at the end of this process dictation will prove faster than typing and I may yet get a few short stories into electronic ink.

Useful thought for getting going

2008-07-21T11:19:00.000-07:00

Web Worker Daily was a lovely article on rescuing an unproductive day.
I really have to thank them for reminding me to turn the music on.

Drowning out the conversations from the cubes around the floor, and the noises of the toys the folks around here use to help adjust attitude when taking support calls is a godsend.

Pandora really helps in providing the soundtrack I actually want to listen to. Setting up a channel for 80s bubble-gum pop music, or loud, stompy industrial, is great for fixing a broken day.

The Adventures of Pirx the Pilot

2008-04-14T15:09:00.001-07:00

Stanislaw Lem is a brilliant author. This is the first book of stories about pilot (or cadet, in the first story) Pirx of the space service.
We open with Pirx as a cadet, learning to fly the atomic rocket. This is almost identical to the rockets described by Charles Stross in his current science fiction stories, which is rather telling in terms of the perception of atomic fission as the source of energy for rockets in space. But I digress.
Pirx is worried about his performance, and comparing himself to the best and brightest in his class. I know that I did that through highschool and college as well. But when Pirx emerges from the simulator that he thought was a real training flight he finds that his overthinking of things has led him to land while the bright boy crashed his simulator into the moor.
Pirx is an everyman of a character who thinks too much, and analyzes too much. He is worried that his name will impact his ability to get a date. "I'm Pirx" doesn't really roll off the tongue but I'm sure it wouldn't really stop some one from dating him. He spends much of the stories thinking things through, which I greatly enjoyed.

The short stories are all about novella length, so set some time aside for reading them. You will find that you are finishing the story about the time you also realize it's past bed time. Lem is most known for Solaris, but I find most of his works to be incredibly readable and enjoyable.

In "Pirx the Pilot" we spend much of the time alone with Pirx in space, learning about the rockets and seeing what life in the military of the far future is like. Unfortunately it seems about as dull as todays duty watching Arctic Ice for an invasion, or flying patrol over the Pacific. The moments of excitement reflect much of what life is like now and probably will be in the future for humans, with machine error, human error, and mistaken identity playing their role in making everyone jump.

This is a must read for fans who want to know where modern sci-fi comes from.

Accelerando

2008-03-26T08:46:00.001-07:00

Charles Stross once again delivers a romping good read.
Cramming in a good number of the current trendy terms and concepts from the singularist camp, Accelerando is a fast forward look at what might happen if the computers do take over.
Uploading into the net, external mental components, ability to fork yourself into multiple versions, these are the wet dreams of the technorati.

The cat as the family curse is a nice subplot, but does seem a bit Deus Ex Machine; the whole story being centered around the machines does tend to lend itself to those sorts of plot devices however. The idea of a robotic cat that is upgradable really is a nice extension of the Aibo and other products currently on the market.

The idea put forth of a Matrioshka brain instead of a Dyson Sphere as the final outcome of a solar system that has uploaded itself is very compelling. Given the change from consuming all resources to support the human form, to consuming all resources to support the virtual worlds, surrounding the star with ring upon ring of computronium is the next logical step.

The argument that even after upload, the humans will still be supplanted by AI, since the AI will be in their natural habitat and the uploads will be foreigners is also a logical outcome of the changes from physical to virtual dwelling.

The first part of the book has several good arguments hidden in it. What about upload, property ownership, marriage, multiple selves, etc. will the current legal systems of the world handle, and how will these systems have to change to handle the new technologies.

I highly recommend this as a good read.

Music, that's what has been missing

2008-02-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

I keep forgetting how much having music in my life helps me. My creativity always seems to be a little higher when I have music playing in the background.

I must say a thanks to a few friends who turned me on the www.pandora.com where I can build a radio station that plays my favorite hits without commercial interruption.

Unfortunately most of the creativity is now going to get turned into doing a large project for work that suddenly became a top priority, but at least I am creating content of some form.

Writers block or just procrastination

2008-02-04T13:42:00.001-08:00

I'm afraid I have to beg procrastination in this case. Just too distracted by reading blogs to write in mine.
The days are still way too short, and I am way too sleepy most of the time. I really had the best of intentions, which still amount to a rather empty journal compared the the loft goals of the new year.

2008-01-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

self mating socks

Okay, maybe not the best product name in the world, but what does an engineer know about naming products. We just call them like we see them.

It all started one morning when my wife was complaining yet again about not being able to find an actual pair of socks. Naturally I offered to help, but the question "aren't these a pair?" was met with a snort and the look, clearly indicating that I couldn't tell that those two socks were not really identical.

This ritual had been performed almost daily since we were married, but for some reason this morning it struck a nerve and I was determined to use technology to solve the problem once and for all. Socks that would find each other. Self mating socks.

For several days I thought about socks and socks and socks. The first problem is that you buy more socks that just a single pair. So how would each pair know that they were not the same as the other two pairs from that bag. That and how to make what ever solution worked keep working about laundry day.

Well, the first trial run was not really the success I was hoping for. My wife comes in to the work room and looks over my shoulder, "So, you wanted a large ball of socks?" she asks.
"No, I was trying to get the individual pairs to mate." I reply tartly.

So obviously just messing with giving the socks some sort of charge was out. You ended up with a large ball of clean socks sitting in the middle of the dryer. Fortunately after the kitchen incident I thought things out more, and had purchased these socks at the local thrift outlet instead of using socks from around the house.

Experiments with magnets showed about the same result. One large ball of socks, sort of Koosh (tm) looking, but not really the desired result.

Working on a different project that involved muscle-wire (tm) as well as RFID and some really strange ideas on micro-robotics, I had a breakthrough on the sock issue.

So now the socks are really well behaved. Each pair has a pair identity that they know and share. So when they come out of the dryer and start cooling, each one seeks out it's mate.

So what should they be called, that won't devolve into mirth at the mere mention of the name?

District 13

2008-01-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

Banlieue 13

Or District 13, if you have the American release.

An action move by Luc Besson in the spirit of "The Transporter" or "Wasabi", staring David Bell as Leito and Cyril Raffaelli as Capt. Damien Tomaso.

The movie is in what amount to three acts. In the first act we meet Leito the local boy who is trying to keep his building from becoming a graffiti covered haven for crime. He is busy trying to get rid of some drugs when K2 (who has his name shaved into his head) and the hard boys show up to reposes said drugs. Things get worse from there. Leitos big mistake comes at the end of the act.

In act two we meet Damien the local cop with a bad attitude. He spends the act taking down the local crime ring gambling establishment. I should note that the take-down of the big boss is fabulous and makes the gang in Oceans 11 and 12 look like complete amatures.

Act three is when our unlikely pair of heros team up to take on the local crime boss of District 13, who has accidentally ended up with a nuke in his hands. The nuke, I might add, has a countdown timer running and only a few hours left before the barrio is leveled.

The writing is good, and the acting is sharp. The chase scenes are Jackie Chan at his best with some Jet Li thrown in for good measure. If you are an action genera fan, I really recommend this movie.

The subtitling in English is a little week here and there, but for the most part either sub or dub is worth watching.

Also, Bell and Raffaelli are well and away the best pair of action move jocks this decade. I would watch for them in upcoming films.

Growth Industry next decade

2008-01-04T10:14:00.000-08:00

The growth of high-rise assisted living buildings here in Seattle is startling. There is one gowing up in a rather dubious location on Denny with a rather steep walk to and from the local grocery, transit, etc.

So why are these popping up like giant mushrooms in the wet weather? Well, in looking at the statistics for population and aging, I see that the Baby Boomers are all aging rapidly and will be living in those assisted living communities in the next twenty years. According to the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging by 2030 approximately 20% of the population of the US will be over 60. That is a huge amount of population needing elderly care of some form.

With so many people moving from homes to assisted living, or moving in with the kids or grandkids to be taken care of, I think that the 2020's housing market will be an interesting slide. However, the rise of high-rise assisted care buildings in the 10's will be great.

The start of a new year

2008-01-03T15:32:00.000-08:00

Time to think on what I want for the new year, and what I want rid of from the old.

I think it's time for a wardrobe purge, among other things. As well as maybe a cleaning of the bookcases.

The goal this year is to land and complete at least one freelance project. Either software or writing, not really sure yet which it will be, but one must be bid, granted, completed and billed.

The other goal is to update this journal much more often. I will take once a day on week days, but that is the minimum.

Book Review - Iron Sunrise

2008-01-03T11:16:00.001-08:00

Once again Mr. Stross delivers an excellent read.
Following our protagonists from their strange and divergent starting points, through their journeys and ending up at a common meeting point was quite the ride.

The only down-side was that the bad guys feel a little too much like Nazis. Calling them the Remastered makes sense, but still sounds a little too much like the Master Race to me.

On the plus side, having an AI as the Deus ex is vastly amusing and handled very well. Knowing that there is something watching through time to keep humans in line really helps drive some of the more subtle parts of the story.

The view of technology in the future is also quite excellent and deep. From implants that allow you to talk to the computer network and get e-mail in your head to the young girl noticing that hers are no where near state of the art compared to those on the plant she arrives at give a good insight into the future of strange and personal technology. Throwing in biotechnology as well as silicon and neural components make a strong mix that more closely parallels the real world than many authors.

All in all this is another must read from Charlie Stross.

Silly games

2007-12-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

I guess it's just a habit from being a kid. I love silly games.
Cheap-ass games (tm) like "Give me the brain" are fun to just sit with friends and play.
So when something like http://helixville.myminicity.com/ comes across my friends list, I usually have to give it a look.
In this case, I think this could be fun. Get all your friends to click on the link to your town, and build it up to world domination.

These sorts of games unfortunately tend to go the way of fashion, and not last long enough to really get serious play and game strategy, but we will see.

Book review - The Atrocity Archives

2007-11-23T10:22:00.000-08:00

I have to say I really enjoyed the read. The book is easy to get into and the lead character fun to follow. That being said, I must warn you that if you are not fluent in English (British English) the writing will likely go right past you. Mr. Stross writes strongly but in very colloquial English.

As we follow our hero Bob through his dreary and drab existence as a civil servant in the great British hierarchy of civil services things are not always quite as they appear. Bob works for a branch of the government so secret that it is a crime to know they exist. What do these secret civil servants do? They guard the rest of the world from the other worlds out there.

Citing as inspiration H.P. Lovecraft and Len Deighton, the book is a delightful trip through the mazes of politics and intrigue in the civil services of England with side trips into higher mathematics, physics and the occult thrown in.

I can't really review some of the best parts of the book with 0ut providing serious spoilers to the plot, but leave it to say that the great evils are not always the ones that are currently out to get you.

I give this one a "Must Read" rating.

Blessed Silence

2007-11-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

Ah, blessed silence, what a joy.
With the move to the new building here at work, we had all of our test gear moved into the lab. This means that cube land no longer has the roar of fans and hum of electronics. The down side of that is being able to hear your coworkers conversations two rows away.

Over the weekend I found a very inexpensive set of over-the-ear headphones. You know, the ones that look retro because smalled is better. These are not noise canceling or anything expensive but that do work just like a set of safety headsets in reducing the background noise to a tolerable level.

The noises that I am trying to reduce are:
the clatter of keyboards
people talking on the phone to customers
people having hallway conversations right at the end of the row
street noise from the traffic outside

I will give the cheap Koss headphones a double plus good rating for making the day much more pleasant.

Change for the sake of change

2007-11-07T13:59:00.001-08:00

Or really just dealing with boredom.

It looks like I might be making a job change this winter. Having been here for 8 years makes me kind an anomaly in the high-tech community of Seattle. I don't like to change jobs. I don't like the culture of high-tech companies that mandates a job change to get a reasonable raise. I would like to think that we are all rational human beings and can be reasoned with about things like cost of living increases and raises commensurate with promotion and title. Experience, however, has shown that this is not the case.

The genesis of my last job change was New Years Eve 1999. Any one in the IT fields knows that this was the most boring non-event in history. For those that missed the hype, or have conveniently forgotten, this was the Y2K disaster evening. Absolutely nothing happened, and I chatted with friends on LambdaMoo for the evening and watched as folks to the east signed off one at a time. With this considerable time to think, I considered what I was doing in my current position and what I wanted out of it. My conclusion was that I had effectively worked myself out of a job and should plan to move on to something else. My director was rather surprised at my letter of resignation, but handled it well. From that point I gave myself six weeks to find something else.

Using my theory that it is almost always who you know, I tracked down a recruiter from a previous job and found that he worked at a fairly new company here in Seattle and was having fun. That sounded interesting enough to get my resume, and two interviews later I was here at my current position. That was April 1st, 2000.

This time, there has not been a night of introspection followed by a leap of faith. In this case there is a company that wants some one with my talents and they have tracked me down and asked for an interview. And so after weighing the costs of leaving the current comfy haven, I have said yes and will interview in Bellevue next week.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

2007-11-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Daywatch available in stores

2007-11-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

Having really enjoyed Nightwatch, and unfortunately missing Daywatch at SIFF I am quite happy to note that Daywatch is now available at Best Buy for $18.
I like their new release discount policy.

If you have not seen either, I must recommend starting with Nightwatch. These movies are probably some of the best out there for action and story.

slacking

2007-10-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Between work and home the time to write has been a little limited so I have been a slacker. No serious writing for me this week I am afraid.

Working on a couple of actual articles, so hopefully next week there will be some content worth tuning in for.

Saturday, what a day

2007-10-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

Lovely weather out there, if a bit too cold. Any time it is this close to freezing I think fond thoughts of warmer climes.

Breakfasted at O/8 in Bellevue. They have a highly recommended breakfast buffet, but I must admit some disappointment. Slim selection and a fairly run-of-the-mill menu for such a location. The price was not bad for being Bellevue, but aside from that the only real benefit was it was some place different.

Shopped a bit at The Container Store. Think Storables on steroids. Actually found a few things that have been on the list.

Finished up errands and ended up at the Bellevue Trader Joe's. They had the Pork Chili Verde that was advertised in this months rag. The University District one did not. Have to cook up the pork this week and see what I think.

Must also track down more of their marinaded lemon pepper chicken. That was fantastic, and serves three.

Innovation, really, it's the future

2007-10-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

From a recent interview in US News:
"Long-term growth depends on a country's ability to invest in the future -- and in a way that shows little signs of near-term payback."
No, really, the every week report of earnings and how the company is doing does nothing to foster long-term growth. All you are doing is micromanaging the current earnings to death while sacrificing the future of the company to whom ever comes up with a better way of doing it next year.

Five year plans are a great thing, but no publicly traded company in the US can have one. The share holders don't want a stable investment, they want to see the price of the stock increase today. Speaking as a long-term buy-and-hold sort of person, I really despise that attitude and wish that American companies would get a clue and start trying to plan longer into the future.

What are you thankful for this Thursday?

2007-10-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

Me, I'm tankful for my beloved wife, who encourages me in the paths I have chosen.

I'm also grateful for the Internet, that allows me to do school work while at work.

That's about it this Thursday, but I am thankful.

Rainy Wednesday

2007-10-24T13:23:00.001-07:00

of course, I open my mouth and the rain comes back to remind us all why the Northwest is a rain forest.

Working on some continuing education projects and got directed to the University of Phoenix
They were very prompt in calling me back about my inquiry as to degree programs. I think I would almost say too quick to call me back, as if they are hungry for new students.
In any case, I got the tuition information and I think the next step could be seeing if my employer will pick up the tab.

thinking about thinking

2007-10-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

I feel a bit like Pooh for that title, but really that is what I mean.

Having just finished my first read through of "How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci" by Gelb, I find myself thinking about thinking. It really reminds me of a poem I once read.

The Centipede was happy quite, until a Frog in fun,
said, "Which leg comes after which?",
which raised her mind to such a pitch,
she lay distracted in the ditch,
considering how to run.

But seriously, I found the book the be quite full of interesting facts about Leonardo as well as an excellent book on exercises on thinking and using your mind. I found this book through recommendations on Amazon and found a local copy that same weekend.

In the book, Gelb provides a brief history of Leonardo himself, and some historical perspective on the great man. It is fairly obvious from the tone of this section that the author is a devout follower of Leonardo as the greatest genius that ever lived.
After the history class, Gelb divides the book up into chapters and exercises based on Leonardo's specific principles of Creativity, the Senses, Exploration, Demonstration, Arts and Sciences, the Body, and Connections. These all have their own unique elements and exercises but are all still interconnected in some way.

The exercises are quite a range from the simple and easy to the complex and challenging, each set leading to some amount of self examination.

I highly recommend this book to any one who is curious about how they think, and wants to improve their mind.

I love the colors of the fall

2007-10-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

I love the fall, when the hillsides are colored with reds and yellows of the trees.
The orange of pumpkins sitting out.
All against the dark green of the fir and pine on the hills.

Today is even nicer, with a bright sun and blue sky. Normally this would be grey clouds and rain, so I am enjoying this respite from rain.

The Pacific Northwest is beautiful the year round, but the fall is when the colors really come out.

What to do on this upcoming holiday

2007-10-22T13:22:00.001-07:00

Well, on Wednesday the 31st, might I recomend:

And if you want to get dressed up and come out to play the Saturday before:

Silly waste of time, and yet...

2007-10-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

I went ahead and started a clan on KoL. (www.kingdomofloathing.com)
The name is "A modest clan" after a modest proposal. The whole goal is to have a method of generating extra adventures. If you play and want to join a clan that just exists to have fun, please feel free to apply.

Not much in other news today. Mondays are usually quiet and rather slow.

sleepy weekend

2007-10-21T11:36:00.001-07:00

Just a sleepy weekend around the house.
Nothing worth reporting, but if I plan on posting more than once a month I am going to have to write on something.

House cleaning and having way too many magazines. I mean, sure, I read them but should I save them, recycle them, cut out the three interesting articles and recycle the rest? What do you all do?

Any way, enjoy the rest of Sunday and I will see you bright and early next week.

A little something to get started

2007-10-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

This is but a place holder while I work out the physics and mechanics of switching most of what I do to Google tools.
Documents and spreadsheets are easy, but moving a blog over to a new site is going to take more effort.